I have taken on another round of cutting stones (cabochons this time). A friend on the About.com Jewelry Making forum provided me with three rocks from California a while back to identify for her. So I have take a slab from each of them, a breccia from Florida (courtesy of Carolee) and a green beryl (emerald) that Debbie and I found in North Carolina. Cut them with the trim saw, the to the grinding drum (80 grit diamond) to form the general shape (preform) that I want to end up with. You can see on the pudding stone that I (or maybe the stone) have changed my mind as to the shape. Next step is to put the stones on dops and start using the lapidary to shape/polish the stones. Here is the preform step:
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Anne Bellissimo 07.02.09 at 7:21 am
Hi, John. As always I read your blog & appreciate your work. I have a question: What is Breccia (I’m in FL, and I thought we had shells, coral and shark’s teeth only). Thanks, Anne
John Rasmussen 07.02.09 at 5:48 pm
Hi Anne,
Breccia is a sedimentary rock made up of cemented angular pieces of other rocks. If you look at the breccia in the picture, you can see the angular fragments of rock that make up the new rock. And Florida is one of the major sources of gypsum (a major sedimentary rock) that is used to make wallboard for construction.
John